Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Four into six won't go

Outrageous Fortune’s as good as ever, says Jane Clifton intoday’s Dominion Post, as the sixth and last season of thisgreat Kiwi comedy-drama begins. Much as I respectJane’s writing, I must sadly disagree with her on this one.Essentially, Outrageous Fortune—sublimely brilliant forthe first four series—passed its use-by date a couple ofyears ago and should have been laid to rest with honour.Now all we get is the same old characters doing their sameold shtick over and over again, and boy, is it tiresome.What once was fresh and sharp is now stale and outworn.The dialogue between, say, Van and Munter positivelycreaks: they might just as well get robots to say theselines now. The core problem, I think, is that not one of themain characters has grown or changed for the better or theworse. Maybe that’s OK for a half-hour sitcom, no matterhow many seasons it runs, but with a more wide-rangingdrama like this you need some serious characterdevelopment after a while. The problem is compoundedby the fact that everyone looks older, as indeed they are;yet they’re still carrying on like 14-year-olds. Outrageous,yes. Fortunate, no. It’s a classic example of not knowingwhen to quit while you’re ahead.